Personality Chapter 12 Quiz

Personality Chapter 12

• This week's question: Social-cognitive theory claims self-efficacy perceptions cause behavior. In what area of life does high or low self-efficacy influence behavior?

Social-Cognitive Theory

• Theorists:

  • Albert Bandura (Bobo doll experiments)
  • Walter Mischel (focused on cognitive-social personal variables, worked with inner-city youth)

• View of the Person:

  • People reason about the world using language.
  • Reasoning includes the past, present, and future, and self-reflection.
  • This theory applies only to humans.

• View of the Science of Personality:

  • Built on other theories and scientific advances.
  • Integrates knowledge from other branches of psychology.
  • Focuses on practical applications.

Personality Structure

• Competencies and Skills: These are the building blocks for handling the world. Abilities vary.

  • Example: Conscientiousness - cognitive skills enable people to follow social norms.
  • Problem-solving and coping skills are crucial.
  • Skills include thinking about and executing solutions to problems.
  • Suicidal ideation is one example.

• Skills and Competencies (continued):

  • Some actions require multiple competencies.
  • Context specificity: Certain psychological structures are relevant to specific situations but not others.
  • Example: Study skills don't automatically translate to dating skills (different contexts).
  • Skills are learned through social interaction and observation (learning theory).

• Structure (continued):

  • Beliefs and Expectancies: Beliefs about the world and its future. These can vary across situations.
  • Evaluative Standards: Our idea of what the world should be like.
  • Goals: Desired future outcomes.

• Structure (continued): The Self and Self-efficacy Beliefs

  • Self-efficacy: Our belief in our own ability to perform a behavior.
  • Perceived self-efficacy: How capable we believe we'll be in the future.
  • Higher self-efficacy: Increased likelihood of trying difficult tasks, persistent effort, calm performance, analytical thinking.
  • Lower self-efficacy: Opposite characteristics.
  • Self-efficacy is different from self-esteem; self-esteem is more global and a measure of worth.

• Structure (continued): Self-efficacy expectations vs Outcome expectations

  • Outcome expectations: Beliefs about rewards and punishments resulting from behavior.
  • Self-efficacy expectations: Belief in performing the behavior to produce the outcome.
  • Assessment: Microanalytic research strategy involves detailed measures of perceived self-efficacy before and after performance. Specific measures can change over time.

Social-Cognitive Theory - Self-efficacy and Performance

• Perceptions of self-efficacy causally influence behavior.
• Self-efficacy is a cause of behavior, but not the only one.
• Influences coping with disappointment and stress; promotes feelings of control.

Social-Cognitive Theory - Goals

• Goals: Mental representations of desired outcomes that motivate and direct behavior.
  • Example: Goal of graduating, requires specific actions.
• Goal systems have varying importance.
  • Hierarchy exists, with some goals being more central.
• Goals are not static. Individuals prioritize different goals depending on situations and opportunities.
  • Proximal (short-term) vs distal (long-term) goals.
  • Proximal goals have a stronger impact on behavior.
• Higher self-efficacy is linked to pursuing more challenging goals

Social-Cognitive Theory - Evaluative Standards

• Evaluative standards: Evaluating the worth of people, things, or events.
• Personal standards are fundamental to motivation and performance.
• Self-evaluative reactions (satisfaction or dissatisfaction) act as reinforcers.
• Moral standards are central evaluative standards.

Social-Cognitive Theory - Structure Review

• Structure: Beliefs & expectancies, Goals, Evaluative Standards, Competencies & skills.
• Each of these describes a type of thinking/cognition.

Social-Cognitive Theory - Process

• Reciprocal Determinism: Behavior is influenced by the person, their actions, and the environment, all interacting in a two-way process.
• Example: The classroom environment, student behavior, and student motivations interact.

Social-Cognitive Theory - Cognitive-Affective Processing System (CAPS)

• CAPS: Cognitive and emotional variables are interconnected and interact with the situation to affect behavior.
  • Situational features influence subsets of personality.
  • Behavior varies across situations.
  • Behavioral signatures are how the combination of individual factors and situational factors interact to produce behavior.

Social-Cognitive Theory - Growth and Development

• Growth and Development: Acquiring knowledge and skills, and regulating actions and emotions.

Social-Cognitive Theory - Learning

• Observational learning: People learn by watching others.
  • See rewards and punishments in others, learn appropriate behavior.
  • Not mere imitation, but general rules and principles are learned.
  • Acquisition (learning skills) vs performance (demonstrating learned skills, generally dependent on reinforcement).
  • Vicarious conditioning: Learn emotional reactions by observing others.

Social-Cognitive Theory - Self-Regulation and Motivation

• Self-regulation: Self-directed motivation, encompassing more than just skills and performance.
  • Anticipation of positive emotions/satisfaction motivates behavior.
  • Self-efficacy, goals, and self-evaluation contribute to self-regulation.
  • Example: Marshmallow Experiment

Social-Cognitive Theory - How Good Self-Regulation Helps

• Delay of gratification: Resisting immediate rewards.
• Learning from observational learning.
• Setting high standards, resulting in self-motivation.
• Coping with frustrating feelings such as distractions, imagery.

This quiz explores the impact of self-efficacy on behavior according to social-cognitive theory. Delve into the insights of theorists Albert Bandura and Walter Mischel as you reflect on how competencies and skills shape individual actions. Test your understanding of personality structure and its real-world applications.